Laura Muir

Laura Muir (born 9 May 1993) is aBritish middle-distance runner. She specialises in the 800m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m. She is the 2018 European champion in the 1500 metres, a two-time 2017 European Indoor champion, winning the 1500m/3000m double, a feat repeated in 2019, and a two-time 2018 World Indoor Championship medallist, with silver at 1500m and bronze at 3000m. Muir is a 2 time Diamond League champion in 1500 metres, winning in 2016 on the original points format, and again in 2018 when she won the Diamond League Final in the new championship format.

Muir first broke the British record in the 1500m at the London Diamond League in July 2016, before improving it to 3:55.22 a month later at the Paris Diamond League. She went on to break the European indoor records at both 1000m and 3000m in 2017. In the 1500 metres, she finished fifth at the 2015 World Championships, seventh at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and fourth at the 2017 World Championships. Her other best times include 4:18.03 for the Mile run, which ranks her in the world all-time top 20.

Born in Inverness, Scotland, Muir made her international debut in the 2011 European Cross-Country Championships, when she was part of the Great Britain junior women's team that won gold. At the end of the year, she was a nominee in the Daily Record Young Athlete of the Year awards.

At the 2013 World Championships in Athletics Muir represented Great Britain in the 800 metres, she reached the semi-finals with a personal best time of 2:00.83. At the 2014 Diamond League event in Paris, she ran 4:00.07 in the 1500 metres, to break Yvonne Murray's 27-year-old Scottish record. At the 2016 Diamond League event at the Olympic Park in London 22 July she ran 3:57.49 for 1500 metres to break Kelly Holmes' British record. On 27 August 2016, at the Paris Diamond League meet, she lowered her Personal Best and the National 1500m record to 3:55.22Her time also made her the fastest woman in the world over 1500m for the year. In 2016, she became only the third British woman to win a Diamond League title as she won the 1500m title in Zurich.

Muir broke the previous British 1000m record held by Kelly Holmes at the Birmingham indoor Grand Prix, 2:31.93 (within a second of the world record) on 18 February 2017. She also broke the British Indoor 5000m record on 4 January, 14.49.12 (her second ever time running that distance)

At the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Muir took gold in the 1500 metres, breaking Doina Melinte's 32-year old championship record along the way, and followed it up by taking a second title in the 3000 metres with another championship record the next day.

Muir finished fourth in the 1500m and sixth in the 5000m at the 2017 World Championships in London. Following the championships, she announced that she would miss the 2018 Commonwealth Games in April in order to focus on her veterinary medicine exams. She did compete in March 2018 at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, where she won a bronze medal in the 3000m, followed by a silver medal in the 1500m two days later. In August, she won the 1500 metres title at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, the first British woman ever to win the European 1500m title. She followed this breakthrough by winning her second Diamond League title over 1500 metres, her second, but her first since the move to a championship format.

At the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships Muir took gold in the 3000 metres, with another championship record, and the 1500 metres, repeating her achievements in 2017.

Muir attended Kinross High School, the same school as 400m hurdler Eilidh Doyle along with her brother Rory who is two years younger than she. She studied veterinary medicine at the University of Glasgow where one of her lecturers was veterinary pathologist, distance runner and teammate at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Hayley Haining.